Stephen Spartacus

Debt, debt, debt, debt, debt

2 February 2026 11:54 am

There are a lot of people who comfort themselves by thinking that the Commonwealth government’s $1 trillion of debt is…

Australia’s renewable energy or monorail policy?

31 January 2026 3:39 pm

I hate to infringe on the sacred writing territory of Labor Dry, but desperate times call for shameless imitation. There…

Are the Nationals an equal Coalition partner?

27 January 2026 11:46 pm

Give it a couple of weeks, or more precisely, a couple of pay cycles, and the National Party will be…

Dump Aukus. Build Aujus

13 January 2026 2:30 pm

As a matter of national security, and basic strategic sanity, Aukus should be scrapped and replaced with Aujus. Drop the…

The Liberal Party that forgot what held it together

27 December 2025 1:37 pm

I have been quiet for a week and a half. Now it is time to return to battle, a metaphorical…

Live not by spin

23 November 2025 1:55 pm

In 1974, after being arrested for the crime of telling the truth, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn released his famous essay Live Not…

Values-based socialism – Jim’s Jamboree

8 November 2025 7:59 pm

The Productivity Summit has given us nothing

Inflation is a policy, not a problem

1 November 2025 11:05 am

Inflation is the sneakiest tax of all. It does not show up on your payslip, there is no debate in…

Victoria’s crime issues

21 October 2025 12:18 am

Lessons from the Chávez School of Public Safety

From Moscow to Canberra – the return of central planning

3 October 2025 4:49 pm

Albo’s arrogant plan to reshape Australia

Clown car redux

29 September 2025 2:29 am

Albanese is a Ruddy mess all over again!

Melbourne on the Yangtze

22 September 2025 12:29 pm

In a stunning display of professional courtesy, the Chinese Communist Party has sought advice from the Victorian Labor government on…

Walking in Venezuela’s Shoes?

20 September 2025 2:26 pm

Flamingo frittata and pigeon pasta on the menu

Productivity vs the rent seekers’ tea party

15 September 2025 1:10 am

How doomed is Australia? This much. The ABS, bless their public-service hearts, churns out mountains of data. Pity hardly anyone…

Australia’s education folly

10 September 2025 7:14 am

A bureaucratic shuffle

Words matter

31 August 2025 10:10 pm

All roads lead to higher taxes

Productivity or a griftocracy?

20 August 2025 10:16 am

Welcome to the Productivity Summit where the word ‘productivity’ means the exact opposite of what you think. The goal is…

Who really pays for taxes?

18 August 2025 1:45 pm

It’s always you, the consumer

Can we have that $444 million back?

17 August 2023 1:17 pm

In 2018, the Coalition government gifted $444 million of other people’s money to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The money…

Ideas, my dear girl, ideas

11 January 2023 9:00 am

Excuse me for so poorly paraphrasing Harold Macmillan, but fair dinkum. It feels like our political overlords are speaking in…

Quotas for – uh – merit?

12 July 2022 12:30 pm

It’s back. The discussion of gender quotas in parliament is back in a conversation being led by those who would…

Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned

15 June 2022 11:00 am

I am big on truth in political advertising which is why I think that so called planning departments should be…

The ‘leave me alone’ coalition

1 June 2022 3:00 pm

I have never really liked the whole left-right political construct. A framework of who sat to the left or the…

Elections: a trough of public money

1 May 2022 1:00 pm

When the major parties come together to tinker with electoral systems, there is one thing guaranteed; the citizens will get…

Freedom of speech? Tell ’em they’re dreaming

8 April 2022 9:00 am

Last week, the High Court released the details of its judgment in the case of Ruddick v. Commonwealth of Australia. (Disclosure…